Robert Gilbert, a young Englishman studying at Yoxford Academy in England anticipating the Christmas holiday, wrote to his parents summarizing his studies of the past half-year. He was born in Sibton, Suffolk County, England. After graduating from Yoxford, he became a gardener in the Crystal Palace Gardens in London. Gilbert emigrated to the U.S. in 1855 and began farming nine miles north of Lawrence the same year.